On Twitter you receive an endless stream of information, but it’s also very succinct. You don’t have to process that information. Your attention span is being reduced and you’re not engaging your brain and improving nerve connections.
University of Stirling (Scotland) psychologist Dr Tracy Alloway • Describing the difference between Facebook and Twitter usage. Since tweets are so short, you’re not thinking as much, which damages your working memory. Facebook has the opposite effect. Which means, in the long term, Twitter makes you dumber and Facebook makes you smarter. • source
David Stern sounds willing to find common ground.The NBA commissioner mentioned that the league was considering a Twitter policy akin to the NFL’s, but that it would be considerate of the players’ rights. The league has done a fairly good job of using the service so far, as they have over one million followers, and boast one of its most famous (and arguably best) users in Shaq. Don’t screw it up, guys. source
For more than three years, Gilad Shalit has been held hostage. It is believed he is being held somewhere in Southern Gaza. Since his capture, his parents have received three handwritten letters from him.
A petition letter from the Jewish Agency for Israel • Regarding the status of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli prisoner of war who has been prevented contact with his family over three years. This was part of a coordinated campaign to get Shalit’s hashtag to become one of Twitter’s trending topics, and it worked. He’s now only below Sen. Ted Kennedy, plus we learned something new. This is the new activism, kids. Take notes. • source
Twitter will still be free for everybody and we’ll still tell them to go crazy with it. But we’ve identified a selection of things that businesses say are helping to make them more profit.
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone • Discussing how the company plans to actually make money with their overhyped, heavily-used service. The two ideas being presented: First, they plan to roll out premium accounts with analytics for corporate users. Secondly, they plan to create a commercial API for business-class interfaces. Note that the word “advertising” wasn’t used. • source
It is our hope that tr.im, being an excellent URL shortener in its own right, can now begin to stand in contrast to the closed twitter/bit.ly walled garden.
A statement from the Nambu staff • Regarding tr.im’s plans to become an open-source alternative to bit.ly, currently the most popular URL shortener. We understand what they’re going for and appreciate it, but we wish they’d do it with a lot less public attacking of their competition. • source
